Improvement in machines for breaking and dressing flax



UNrrEn STATES PATENT (DEEICE.

S. A. CLEMENS, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS lIMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR BREAKINGVAND DRESSING FLAX.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No.19.609, dated March S, 1853.

To a/ZZ whom, it may corwerm Be it known that l, STILLMAN A. CLnMENs, of Springfield, Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Machine for Breaking and Dressing Flax, tc.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, vmaking'part of this specication, in which- Figure 1 is a plan, Fig. 2 a side elevation, Fig. 3 a longitudinal vertical section, and

' Fig. 4l a bottom view,of the vibrating breaker anddresser.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the `figures. Y v

In my improved machine the substance to v b`e broken and dressed is placed upon an endway between the two faces and the two sets of'` edges thereof, that it maybe balanced. From this the flax may pass between two other rests to the bite of two rollers, each of which is grooved in the direction of its periphery, the

upper roller having, if desired, a longitudinal vibratory motion to open and soften the fibers and aid in removing all foreign substance. When the machine is, however, applied to the dressing of Spanish moss, which requires the fibers t0 be rubbed andopened before being submitted to the action of the beater, vibratory grooved rollers 'are placed between the feed-apron and the Vrst pair'of rests.

In the accompanying drawings, a represents the frame adapted to the purpose, but which may be varied at pleasure; and 1g, an endless apron passing around two rollers, c e, in the usual manner of mounting and -working feedaprons. The flax or other substance to be dressed is placed and spread by an attendant on -this apron,'which by its motion gradually presents it to the bite of a pair of feed-rollers, d d, the upper one of which is kept down in the usual manner of feed-rollers by pressurelevers e e, and the other provided with a pulley, f, to receivea band, g, from a pulley, h, on a shaft, t', receiving motion vby a band, j, from the driving-shaft k. As the feed-rollers carry forward the flax or hemp, it passes through aspace, Z, between two rests, man, by which it is prevented from being carried up or down.

At some distance from the rests j ust above described there are two other like rests, n a, and between the two sets of rests is placed a beater composed of two flat faces,with aspace between the two about equal to the space between either pair of rests. This compound beater is provided with journals at each end and hung in boxes 0 0,' and one of the journals projects out far enough to have an arm, p, projecting downward from it. This arm has a slot, q, near its lower end, in which is secured the joint-pin r of a connecting-rod, s,

u, on the end of a shaft, o, that receives a rapid rotary motion from the main shaft by means of two bands, ww, and an intermediate shaft, a.

From the connections above described it will given to the double-faced beater, and vthatthe extent of the vibration .may be increased or decreased at pleasure by shifting the joint-pin fr in the slot of the arm p. The edges of the beater for fiax should vibrate within about one thirty-second of -an inch of the edges of' the rests. The distance should be greater for hemp, and, if desired, the rests can be. connected with the frame by means of set-screws, so that the distance may bevaried and adj usted at pleasure, and iii-some instances rollers may be substituted for the rests and become the equivalents thereof. The fibers separated from the woody parts pass between a pair of rollers, b' of, which receive rotation by a band, '11, and are similar to the feed-rollersd d, except that each is grooved in the direction of its periphery, and the upper one receives, in addition to its rotary, a longitudition given to this roller, together with the grooved surfaces, has the effect to soften, open l out, and separate the -fibers of flax as they come that takes hold of a crank-pin, t, on a wheel,-

be seen that a quick vibratory motion will benal vibratory, motion in the direction of itsv v from .between the rests; but ordinary rollers l without 'longitudinal motion may be vsubstituted.\ From these rollers the fibers are received and conducted 'off by an endless apron, ff, similar to the feed apro`n before described. For dressing Spanish moss and other analogous brous substances, to loosen the refuse' coating of the fibers by rubbingbefore the .ac-1

p tion of the beater, I make and loperate the pair of feed-rollers d d like the rollers h o @n ,the shaft c are secured the vanesl of a fan-blower surrounded by a casing, g, the dischargefspout k f which isfcarried` up and curved around, so as t'o discharge a current of air above and betweenA` the two faces of the br-later*in the direction of their length and near the lineof their action against the rst pair of rests. The purpose of this current of air isztoiblow out the particles'of wood-and y other foreign matter-as -tliiese are broken and separated'ii-om the'iibers; and, still further, to facilitate `the ydischarge of the fragments of foreign matter, the lower face Aof the-beater is pierced with numerous smalll holes, through which theA small fragmentsescape.- The back l -set of rests can be dispensed with, as the woody parts are thoroughly broken bythe-actionVof the beating-faces in connectionwith theiirst pair of rests, and the main object of the beating-facesback of the axis of vibration is to flip, whip, or toss the fibers to aidin sep#V arating the foreign-sub `nee-that is, in pro-A ducing` an actionon the 'fibers resembling in some measure what would be produced by holding the'fibers about the middle of theirI length in the `hand and rapidly turning the wrist alternately inl opposite directions; and

this action is also important in aiding the progressive motion of the fibers through the space between the faces of the beater, for the tangent action ofthe faces forward of ,the axis of vibration aids the feeding motion, while their action back of the axis of ivibration resistsit, the two balancing each other, so that the feeding motion is not materially affected by the action of the beaters on the bers. The flax being held by the bite .of the feedrollers, which :forces it forward with a regular and positive motion between the two fixed rests, lpresents it to the action of a doublefacedbeater, which vbrates with a rapidmotion in a curve, so that the beating-edges are nearest the rests when at the middle of their lmotion, and gradually receding from and ap- ',p'roaching them in the vibration, byv-means of faced beater arises fromthe vibration on an i axis midway between the two faces and midway between the two pairs of beating-edges,so that in the rapid vibration on this axis thus located the flax is ilipped or shake the upper face beating down forward of the axis and the under face beating up'back of the axis, and

vice versa, on the return motion, so that the fibers are loosened and. the remaining frag ments shaken out, and without any serious or injuriousstrain on the fibers. f

I am aware that machines forl breaking dax A land hemp have beenmadewith double swords A or breakers one abovetheother,.and hung in a gate or frame having a rectilinear reciprocating motion to act on theflax in bothdirections; but thel mode of operation and the action of these on the iiax in some respects are different from mine. In the first place` the swords or breakers are made bevelingY-that is,j thinnest at the striking-edges and thickest at thebackor wedgeformed in the cross-section. They are placed at a' comparatively great distance from the rest, and cannot'from their form .be-

putso close as to have the d shed action' on the flax in passing theplane of the rests, for

then the backs, which are much thicker than the edges, couldnot pass, and rif placed near enough, as they do not recede from the rest in their vibrations, (as in mina) but vrather approach by reason of their beveledform and the rectilinear motion, the feeding" motion will be eitherimpedcd or the machine choked; but the leading and characteristic diiierence is to be foundin the fact that on'my'plan the beaters in'theirvibration alternately approach and recede from the rests, while the double swords or 'beaters moving in a straight line do not.

This produces a did'erent action on the flax, Svc, 0n the old planthe swords in descending belowthe rests draw the iiax down, and -what is not crushed or broken bythis downward movtionwill not be by the ,return upward 'motion, for what will be uncrushed between the swords and the rests in moving down will leave room for the return motion, the space between the swords and rest being the same during the entire operation; but on my plan as the dax is drawn' down the beaters recede from the rests, and in returning they gradually approach the rests, and thus crush and squeeze out the woody particles from the bers, producing'much the same action as if the flaxl weregras'ped by both hands and bent alternately in opposite directions, while the hands are forced toward each other. It is this a'pproaching and receding action, together with tlre'1apid vibration and comparatively close relationsof the beaters to the rests, which produces the improved result.

I do notclaim, therefore,`as my invention simply the double action of beaters, as that is well known in a great lvariety of machines for various purposes.`

What I do claim as my invention, and desire' to secure by. Letters Patent, is-

1. The method of breakingand dressingflax or other fibrous substances by a beater oonis grooved inthe-direction of its periphery, struoted in the manner described, (vibrating and one of `which is made-to yibratein the di"-` on a central aXis,) between the faces of which reotion of its axis, for the purpose of opening the ax, Svc., passes, asdesoribed, when this and softening the bers, substantially as herein lis combined with one or two pairs ofrests; described.

placed in close" proximity to the edges of the v beaters lbetween which the flax passes, subs A CLEMENS stantially as described. v Vitnessesz- 2. In combination with the beater and rests CHAs. M.- KELLER, for breaking and dressing, as d scribed, the CHAs. N. BAMBURGH,

employment of a pair of rollers e 'oh of which H. C. BANKS. 

